Brent Alwine joined the Western Michigan staff in July 2010, after spending the previous two seasons at Creighton. A former student-athlete under current Bronco head coach Billy Gernon at IPFW, Alwine also began his coaching career with Gernon and the Mastodons. Alwine works with the Bronco infielders and hitters, as well as serves as the program's recruiting coordinator.
2011:
Working with the Bronco infield, Alwine helped Western Michigan make a 14-game improvement from 2010 to 2011, ranking the Broncos 10th among NCAA Division I institutions in terms of program turn around. The Broncos finished the 2011 season with an overall record of 26-31 after going 12-42 the season prior.
Western Michigan advanced to the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2008, securing the No. 7 seed, and recorded the program's first postseason win since 1998, upsetting No. 2 seed Central Michigan, 9-7, in the first round. It was just the fourth time since 2000 WMU had advanced to the conference tournament. WMU posted five shutouts, among those a three-game sweep over Akron, the school's first ever shutout series against a conference foe.
Western Michigan's defensive unit set two school records in 2011, posting 1,487 putouts and 622 assists. Its .963 fielding percentage was better than the previous two seasons and the Broncos turned a total of 45 double plays.
Also working with the hitters, Alwine helped Western Michigan implement a
small ball style of play that brought great success. WMU finished the
season ranked 16th in the nation in sacrifice bunts, with junior second
baseman Zach Thoma being named the Division I statistical
champion for sacrifice bunts per game. Despite changes in bat composite, Western Michigan was also able to hit 91 doubles, 12 more than the season before. Western Michigan was recognized as having the MAC's Player of the Week on three occasions, with junior third baseman Ryan McMillin twice collecting honors and junior outfielder Jack Scanlon earning the nod once.
PRIOR TO WMU:
At Creighton, Alwine worked with hitters and outfielders, and also oversaw the Bluejay baseball camps. Creighton had winning seasons during both of Alwine's years there as he worked with a total of three MLB draftees and a fourth player who signed an MLB contract as a free agent.
Posting 31 wins in 2009, Creighton hitters finished the season with a .299 average, their best mark since 2005. The team had five players from its everyday lineup named to the All-Missouri Valley team. In 2010, Creighton fielded two MLB draftees and four All-MVC selections.
Creighton excelled defensively, as the Bluejays led the nation in fielding percentage in both 2009 and 2010. Creighton posted a .984 fielding mark in 2009 and had a .980 percentage in 2010. The 2009 numbers set an NCAA record for the best fielding percentage since the incorporation of the aluminum bat in collegiate baseball.
OTHER EXPERIENCE:
Prior to coming to Omaha, Alwine coached at IPFW during the 2007 and 2008 seasons, helping Gernon transition IPFW from an independent to a member of the Summit League. While there, he worked with the hitters and infielders. He was an assistant coach in IPFW's first year in conference play where he worked with one All-Summit League player and a Ping Freshman All-American.
A four-year starter in the infield, Alwine played under Gernon at IPFW from 2003-06 and concluded an impressive playing career with a .311 career batting average and a .951 fielding percentage.
In July of 2008, Alwine coached a team in Puerto Rico, as part of Coast to Coast Baseball. He also spent the 2006 and 2007 summer as a baseball instructor at Camp Greylock where he worked under Bob Morgan retired head baseball coach from Indiana University.
PERSONAL:
Alwine and graduated from IPFW in 2006 and earned a masters degree from IPFW in 2009. He is married to the former Brandi Alspach.
